


iced latte and a slice of plain cheesecake

by hwanrem



Category: VIXX
Genre: Amusement Parks, Cafe AU, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-07
Updated: 2016-09-07
Packaged: 2018-08-13 14:05:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,336
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7979410
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hwanrem/pseuds/hwanrem
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“A slice of plain cheesecake!” Jaehwan adds, perhaps a bit too excitedly. “Oops.”</p><p>Taekwoon just looks amused, in a good way, which is great. “Yeah, that.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	iced latte and a slice of plain cheesecake

**Author's Note:**

> keo cafe au thing! first time writing something this long, hope you enjoy it!

Jaehwan’s new job isn’t too bad. Well, at least for now.

He’d just gotten the job as a cashier at a café, a few weeks ago. The pay is pretty good, for a start, enough to help support his family. And if he works long enough, he’d maybe even earn enough to get, enough money to treat himself like watching a movie or going on a day-trip to an amusement park or something. And the job requirements aren’t too taxing. Pretty simple, the only downside being the routineness, repetitiveness of it all; taking orders, collecting money, finding change, taking the next order, collecting— yeah. And so far, maybe he’s served one or two not-so-nice, impatient customers. But he’s heard worse stories from Hongbin, and his experiences are mediocre when compared to the former, so Jaehwan’s grateful for that.

He’s also already made good friends with his fellow colleagues, especially Hongbin. Credit that to the socialite Jaehwan thinks he sees in himself. But Hongbin’s also a really nice guy, a little awkward at first, but he’s friendly, nonetheless; always smiling so wide Jaehwan sometimes questions if he has more teeth than he should, and when he does, lovely dimples on his cheeks completing the perfect picture. An artwork, is what Hongbin looks like.

Just not a very nice one when he’s in a teasing mood.

“Hey.”

Someone slaps at his back. It’s Hongbin, greeting him with a cheeky smile. Always smiling, even ahead of the long day that’s heading for them.

Judging from the look on Hongbin’s face, “Got something to tell me?”

“Bingo,” Hongbin laughs. “Aren’t you excited for today, hyung?”

“Why?”

“You really don’t know?”

Hongbin shakes his head disapprovingly at a sincerely confused Jaehwan. “The new school term is starting, stupid.”

“Is that something to be excited about?”

“Gosh, hyung, please tell me you’re pretending not to know or care.”

The wide-eyed look on Jaehwan’s face says otherwise. Hongbin sighs so loud it echoes throughout the mini café that’s preparing to start the day.

“Do you not know that our café is literally situated next to Seoul High? That means, students are gonna be rolling in after classes. Which means, if you still don't get it by now, that we are probably going to see many hot girls." Hongbin concludes with a slight blush on his cheeks. Hopeless romantic. Jaehwan can already forsee the number of girls ogling over Hongbin, pretty flower boy face and all.

Hongbin pauses, then grins and looks at Jaehwan. "Or hot guys, for that matter."

Jaehwan can suddenly feel the heat rising, cheeks flaming at the comment. Was he that obvious? He doesn't remember ever talking to Hongbin about his preferences, how the hell did that guy find out? Defending himself would make it seem too suspicious. Jaehwan decides to just accept it. Coolly. 

"How did you know?"

Hongbin slings an arm over his shoulder, leaning in close, "The shirtless guy on your lockscreen is a pretty big hint,"  Hongbin winks at a red faced, gaping Jaehwan. "Good luck!"

"Little shit," Jaehwan mutters under his breath, and maybe Hongbin caught that because Jaehwan hears snickering right after. But it's probably just Hongbin being the usual asshole he is, gloating over his exposing of Jaehwan.

On the bright side, this job may be even better than it already is.

═ ☕ ═

"Lee Hongbin, were you just playing a prank on me? I don't see anyone here that looks like they could be a student? Let alone the hot guys...or girls, that you promised!" 

An exasperated Jaehwan throws his hands in the air, punching random numbers into the cash counter. Good thing there isn't anyone queuing at the moment. 

"Are you that desperate?" Hongbin laughs, "Chill, hyung. Calm your hormones. Lessons should be ending soon."  
Hongbin leaves the counter and rushes over to the side of the café facing the school, where the transparent glass panes are, and beckons a visibly reluctant yet excited Jaehwan over.

"Look there. Speak of the devil...or rather, _angels_ ," Hongbin giggles, pointing Jaehwan over to the clusters of students slowly dispersing out of the main gates.

"Here's this, hyung. You're like, the most generous person I know of. 100% truth. I'm sure you'll let me take the shift now, yeah?" Hongbin says, and before Jaehwan can even open his mouth to protest, wearing his apron and pinning his name badge on and getting behind the cash counter at lightning speed. Angelic little smile fixed on his pretty face.

Asshole.

“Don’t worry, hyung. When we rotate shifts I’m pretty sure there’ll still be customers flooding in.” Hongbin, trying his best to sound hopeful for Jaehwan, batting his eyelashes and smiling widely. “Now shoo, shoo, we have customers already.”

═ ☕ ═

The wait feels like an eternity for Jaehwan and when the time to switch shifts finally comes, the rate at which customers are entering is…pretty pathetic. Hongbin puts on his best sympathetic smile when Jaehwan grumpily takes over, muttering curses under his breath, loud enough to be heard, because, they’re meant to be.

“Enjoy,” is the cheeky, snarky remark that Hongbin shoots back.

The last glimpse of Hongbin that Jaehwan catches, is of him sauntering toward a table of four female students. The rest can be inferred. Jaehwan sighs, but puts a half-assed-but hopefully-doesn’t-seem-so smile, as his first customer approaches the counter.

It’s a really, really slow day, and by this time, contrary to whatever Hongbin had tried to promise, majority of the students have already ended lessons, preparing to head home. Which explains the lack in consumers at the moment. Anyway, none of the few students so far have really caught Jaehwan’s attention at all, ordinary faces masked in the typical stressed-up-college-student expression.

Jaehwan’s about to give up hope and resign for the day to take a well-deserved break when someone walks in. He’s got such a strong presence and aura; his frame tall and broad, commanding attention; his sleek raven hair parted casually across his forehead. But he pulls it off such that it doesn’t look sloppy but rather, stylish, in a way. And his expression, or rather, the lack or void of expression on his face, piques Jaehwan’s interest. A lot.

He’s really handsome, Jaehwan thinks, and pretty hot, and his body is a 10/10, and—

“Your order, please?”

Jaehwan gives the man some time to think, admiring the way his face tilts up ever so slightly to glance across the menu, the way he brings up a hand to his face and starts tapping at his chin with his index finger as he thinks, making the softest little humming noise, which, probably, no one hears it except for Jaehwan.

(Take all the time you need, and I’ll have all the time I need to appreciate this beauty)

“Uhh, I’d like an iced latte, with a plain slice of cheesecake.”

Wow. Jaehwan had not expected that breathy, soft voice at all. It sends chills down his spine and makes his heart race faster at the thought of those cherry red lips pressed softly against his own ear, whispering with that gentle, melodic voice — Okay Lee Jaehwan, don’t get carried away, now what was his order again?

“Shit- I mean, I’m sorry, could you repeat your order again? So sorry!”

“Ah, it’s fine. I’d like an iced latte and a slice of plain cheesecake.”

“Hot or cold?”

“The cheesecake?”

“No, the latte, of course.”

“Um…I’m pretty sure I ordered an _iced_ latte?”

“Yeah, so would you like it hot or— oh. Iced. Cold. Oops.”

Too carried away with attempts to drag out their conversation, and now he probably looks stupid. Really stupid. Hongbin will never let him hear the end of this, good thing he isn’t here. Damn it.

“Sorry, you must think I’m really stupid, gosh.”

“Nah, it’s fine,” the man says, the corners of his lips quirking up the slightest fraction of a millimetre and Jaehwan promptly explodes. On the inside. Hopefully it isn’t too obvious how he’s totally freaking out mentally.

“Well, thanks for being understanding,” Jaehwan laughs, and licks his lips nervously. “Enjoy the food, and hope to see you again!”

It’s a custom for literally everyone in the service line, “hope to see you again.” For Jaehwan, honestly, this held little to no meaning at all, he ever just said it for the sake of doing it. Until now.

(Hope to see you again. Really. Please come back again. Tomorrow. Every other day.)

“Thanks.” The man gives a curt nod as he collects the tray, heading over to one of the round tables at the corners, back facing the counter. The view is very much appreciated by a still-dazed Jaehwan, although it’d be much better if he were facing the front. Nonetheless, back view, front view, side view, whatever; they’d all be perfect.

A harsh knock to Jaehwan’s head snaps him back to reality, and he’s greeted with a grinning Hongbin.

“All it takes is a few minutes, and you’re already hopelessly in love. Look at yourself.” Hongbin snickers, shaking his head.

“You’re no better,” Jaehwan splutters, taking off his apron and collapsing onto one of the nearby chairs. He pauses, then, like someone who’s about to tell a secret, beckons a curious Hongbin over and whispers, “What do you think of that guy?”

“Which?”

“The one sitting alone there at the corner, stupid. With the broad back,”  Jaehwan adds for good measure.

"I'll let you know when I catch a glimpse of his face." Hongbin gets up.

After walking a few rounds around the cafe, very suspiciously (but thank goodness the guy is too focused on doing something on his laptop to suspect anything), Hongbin returns, with a verdict. Not really.

"He has a really nice body and all, I guess. As for the rest, I shall not say any more on your taste in guys."

"You're not helping," Jaehwan groans. "You'll never understand."

"Do you understand me? See, look at that girl sitting over there with her friends," Hongbin points in their direction. "The blonde haired one. Isn't she so pretty? And her hair. Looks so wavy and soft, and I won't even get started on her smile. Just killer."

One look at Jaehwan's bored, seemingly and most likely uninterested face is enough to prove Hongbin's point. He's back to that dazed, lovesick expression, eyes trained onto the back view of that nameless guy.

"Hopeless."

"You too," Jaehwan says in defense.

"At least I'm better than you in one aspect."

"What?"

Jaehwan's curious now, inching closer towards Hongbin, smug smile on the latter's face.

"You've yet to know that guy's name, right?"

Jaehwan nods yes.

"Well," Hongbin reaches into his jeans pocket and fishes out his phone, unlocking it, taps a few buttons, before waving it at Jaehwan's face. "Lookie here," Hongbin points at a saved contact, "This, is her name and number." Hongbin concludes, triumphant, the bewildered look on Jaehwan's face giving his ego an extra boost.

"Just...how?"

"Knowing how you are, you're never going to get anywhere." Hongbin enjoys the look of pure insult written all over Jaehwan's face. "But it's okay, the pro right here is willing to generously share some advice with you, if you want."

"Thinking so highly of yourself...proud ass bitch-"

"Okay, then I'm off."

Hongbin gets up haughtily, but his wrist is quickly grabbed, pulling him to sit back down.

"What? Trying to win me back? We're cancelled."

"No," Jaehwan says quickly, "Give me some advice." Hongbin doesn't budge. "Ugh, please?"

"Fine," Hongbin says like he's at the upper hand, granting some favour he doesn't want to or something. Bitch. But Hongbin's essential in this process of achieving progress with the still-nameless-guy (not for long, Jaehwan hopes). So, okay, maybe he's not a bitch. Kind soul.

"Okay, let's start analysing the situation. First, why did you choose such a stoic, cold looking guy? This makes it so hard, hyung. You can't even tell how he's feeling or know if he likes something, or whatever."

Jaehwan looks over to his back view helplessly, now losing hope of getting anywhere. Countless worries and paranoid thoughts start racing through his mind.

"Shit Hongbin, what if he already is with someone, what if he has a girlfriend or something?" Jaehwan moans, burying his face into his hands.

"So, because of your inconvenient choice, we'll have to take this step by step." Hongbin starts, tying to sound as professional as possible. "By my observations, it seems he'll be a tough nut to crack. What do you want to know first?"

How's it possible to choose just one out of the endless list of Things Jaehwan's Curious About? Jaehwan sighs. Back to the most basic.

"Um, his name, I guess?"

"Okay. Ask him, the next time he comes. If he ever does. That, will depend on the quality of our café food."

Or maybe, if he's taken a liking to someone in the café.

"I'm not sure that's very helpful at all."

"Yet another of my many kind acts going unappreciated," Hongbin sighs. "Do whatever you deem fit."

Well, there's nothing more to lose anyway, Jaehwan reasons. At least trying and failing would be better than just not trying at all and being subject to the fate of pining forever? 

═ ☕ ═

The next day comes as it should, and it’s a busier day as compared to the previous one. Perhaps word had spread around about the little café nearby with the great food and ambience. But it’s more likely that Hongbin’s the reason behind the sudden burst of popularity; word of the really cute, hot, charming cashier spreading as quick as wildfire within the female population. Evidence can be found in the ratio of customers today: girls is to guys, approximately….five is to one? Not even an exaggeration. Jaehwan would be pretty upset at the turnout had it been the first day, but since he’s already set his eyes on _one_ , he’s fine with it.

Just like yesterday, Hongbin takes the first shift. Just looking at the number of girls swooning and going all googly-eyed gives Jaehwan a headache, it’s amazing how Hongbin deals with it. Though honestly, he seems more than fine. Happy. Jaehwan can literally see his ego inflating with every second, the usual smile on his face more of a smug smirk now, which in turn, only serves to drive the newly formed fanclub even crazier.

Jaehwan sighs, sometimes he wished he was like Hongbin. Not exactly _like_ him, but in that sense; slightly more handsome, more charming, attractive? Maybe then he’d have it as easy, maybe then he’d be able to catch that guy’s attention, and he’d get noticed? No time to think about that now, though, as Hongbin calls him over to the counter, a slight tinge of weariness in his voice. It’s understandable, dealing with a mob of fangirls on top of repeating the same words over and over for countless customers will definitely be exhausting.

 _Better not to get my hopes up too high_ , Jaehwan thinks. There’s no guarantee the guy’s going to visit the café today again.

But he probably will, right? Just look at how convenient the café is, plus, it’s air-conditioned and comfortable and has the perfect environment for doing work, it has really comfy chairs and food of pretty good quality. Jaehwan serves the next few customers while thinking up things to add into the list of Reasons Why The Guy Should Be Coming Back (Everyday) list; trying not to appear too distracted.

The next customer reaches the front of the queue and Jaehwan’s trying to think of Reason #14. He doesn’t get too far, though, because the next thing he knows upon looking up, is that he’s now face-to-face with The Guy. Jaehwan’s heard before that apparently, the size of your pupils increase by three times upon looking at someone you’re interested in? Hopefully it isn’t too obvious because that’d be giving too much away. But that’s probably nothing to be worried about because the colour of Jaehwan’s irises are dark enough to conceal the change. Jaehwan groans internally at how he never fails to think of the stupidest things at the most crucial moments, blame that stupid uncooperative brain of his.

Now, what was he to do again? Right, ask for his name.

“What’s your name?”

“I’m sorry?”

The Guy’s feline like eyes widen slightly, taken aback at the sudden bold question, as if questioning if he’d heard the correct thing. Well, he had. But in Jaehwan’s defence, it’s quite hard to think of a smart way to go about such a question within such a short span of time; and, more so when faced with a stranger you’re having the biggest crush on. Jaehwan takes a deep breath, and tries again.

“May I have your order, and maybe your name as well?”

Jaehwan thinks it sounds slightly better. The first try was way too tactless.

“I’d like an iced, _iced_ latte. And a slice of plain cheesecake.”

Did The Guy actually remember his stupid slip-up from yesterday? Well, that’s the only plausible explanation for his emphasis on the iced part. Oh God.

“Why’d you wanna know my name?”

“Um, for…reasons?”

That’s not exactly the best answer. Jaehwan concludes at this moment that he’s terrible at thinking on the spot. Hongbin’s going to be so disappointed.

“It’s okay, it’s okay, forget I ever asked that.” The coward in Jaehwan makes its appearance, as he places the slice of cake and the cup of latte onto the tray, trying his best to hide his dejectedness. Forces on a smile as he passes the tray over. “Enjoy your meal, and hope to see you again!”

“Taekwoon.”

Jaehwan stills, doe eyes widening, lips parting in a surprised “What?”

“Taekwoon.”

The Guy, no— Taekwoon, _Taekwoon_ , replies belatedly. Voice as soft as a whisper. And then he’s turning around and heading back to the exact same table in the same corner.

(Step one, complete)

═ ☕ ═

“No way.” Hongbin groans, “No way you said that.”

Jaehwan nods, “I did.”

“I’m disowning you as my student. Not going to waste any more precious advice on someone incapable of using it well.”

“Hey!” Jaehwan smacks Hongbin’s shoulder, “At least I reached the end goal, right? You gotta applaud me for that, man.”

“Kudos to you on that.” Hongbin says sarcastically. “But, you’re just lucky. Maybe he just looks cold on the outside. Maybe he’s just a big softie on the inside.”

Jaehwan’s eyes light up at the idea. Finally, some hope. “So, what’s next?”

“You shouldn’t ask too much at once, it’s going to appear too suspicious. For now, just observe, maybe strike up a few short conversations, establish a good foundation.”

Jaehwan nods, listening intently.

“Getting his number would be the next step.” Hongbin adds. “And to do that, you’ll have to wait for the correct opportunity. Timing is key. Too early would be too weird, too late…well, too late.”

“But how would I know if it’s the right timing?”

“I can’t help you on that, hyung. You’ve gotta observe and decide yourself. Besides hyung, I never thought you’d even get past the first stage, to be honest, but you’ve proven me wrong, so. Even though you could’ve approached it better, my faith in you has been _slightly_ restored.” Hongbin laughs, patting Jaehwan on the back before walking off. “I’ll be awaiting the good news on your progress with… Taekwoon.”

Taekwoon, Jaehwan thinks, smiling to himself. The fact that he’d acquired this new, precious nugget of information still feels unreal.

Observe, Right Timing. Progress.

The seeming difficulty of this process does scare Jaehwan a little, but the prospect of progress with Taekwoon is like a strong magnet, with Jaehwan being one of those highly ferromagnetic metals. Like steel. Or iron. Not another magnet, because that would introduce the possibility of repulsion. That’s a no-no.

═ ☕ ═

Over the next few days, Jaehwan makes a few precious observations: Taekwoon’s definitely a regular at the café, and he enters each day between four to four-thirty in the afternoon, to which Jaehwan has already made arrangements to take the shift at that time; which is perfectly fine by Hongbin because his girl visits during the shift before that. He’s always alone, which makes Jaehwan even more hopeful. Also, he’ll sit at the same table _. Every. Single. Time._ Makes Jaehwan want to scribble his own number there in hopes of Taekwoon somehow calling it out of curiosity or something. That’s too extreme, though. Finally, Taekwoon never fails to order the same thing. Iced latte and a slice of plain cheesecake, _iced latte and a slice of plain cheesecake_. It’s already ingrained into Jaehwan’s mind.

═ ☕ ═

**To: Lee RedBeans            [8:30 AM]**

_hey, so i’m really sick atm, down with high fever and a flu. tell manager i can’t make it today, probably tomorrow too._

Jaehwan sniffs as he presses send. This also means a Taekwoon-Deprivation of two days. Sounds terrible.

**To: Jaehwanie hyung       [8:47 AM]**

_sounds terrible. gws hyung, i’ll tell manager._

**To: Lee RedBeans            [8:48 AM]**

_thanks, man. you taking over my shift?_

**To: Jaehwanie hyung       [8:51 AM]**

_yeah, i guess. you owe me a favour when you get well._

**To: Lee RedBeans            [8:52 AM]**

_stop being so calculative, i’m just a poor, sick, suffering child._

**To: Jaehwanie hyung       [8:52 AM]**

_whatever. go rest hyung, you need it._

**To: Lee RedBeans            [8:54 AM]**

_okay, okay. tell me if you see taekwoon :)))_

Jaehwan presses send, and waits for Hongbin’s reply. It doesn’t come. Jaehwan sighs and throws his phone the bed, and of all things to do it bounces off the mattress and flips over onto the tiled floor with a sickening thud. Ugh, today’s going to suck so bad.

═ ☕ ═

**To: Jaehwanie hyung       [4:38 PM]**

_you’ll never believe what happened._

**To: Lee RedBeans            [4:45 PM]**

_WHAT. SPILL_

**To: Jaehwanie hyung       [4:46 PM]**

_you make me want to keep it from you. you’re so cute, hyung_

**To: Lee RedBeans            [4:47 PM]**

_please doN’T. pleaaaaseeee tell? :(( <3_

**To: Jaehwanie hyung       [4:47 PM]**

_your taekwoon…_

**To: Lee RedBeans            [4:47 PM]**

_he whaT._

**To: Jaehwanie hyung       [4:49 PM]**

_he_

**To: Lee RedBeans            [4:49 PM]**

_LEE HONGBIN_

**{16 missed calls from Jaehwanie hyung}**

**To: Lee RedBeans            [5:25 PM]**

_lee hongbin you lil piece of shit please pleaseplease just tell me what happened you can’t just tell me something happened then go off for a good half an hour without saying no shit omg pleASE my life depends on you rn <3333333 :((((( :’(_

**To: Jaehwanie hyung       [5:28 PM]**

_fine. your taekwoon looked surprised, kinda disappointed tbh, that you weren’t there and asked what happened to ‘the jaehwan guy’ so i told him and he told me to convey the msg: ‘get well soon’. he looked at your nametag and knows your name and sorta cares for you. don’t faint._

**To: Jaehwanie hyung       [5:38 PM]**

_please tell me you didn’t really faint_

**To: Jaehwanie hyung       [5:39 PM]**

_wake up_

═ ☕ ═

It’s Wednesday morning, and Hongbin walks into the café, greeted with a surprisingly early, and very excited Jaehwan. Doesn’t look like the face of someone who claimed to be really sick the past two days. Ah, love, the greatest medicine ever discovered. 100% effective. Well, at least that’s the case for Jaehwan.

“Hongbinnie!” Jaehwan leaps out of his chair and runs to hug the younger, who shrugs Jaehwan off quickly, faux disgust plastered all over his face, “Don’t spread the germs to me, who knows if you’re fully recovered?” Jaehwan replies the snarky remark with a gentle kick to Hongbin’s leg. “Mean.”

“Anyways.” Hongbin puts his bag down, “What happened to you yesterday, seriously? Did you really faint or something?”

“Aww, were you worried about me?”

“Not really.”

“Ugh, whatever. To be honest, I freaked out so hard I started having a really bad headache, so I went to bed early, and forgot to reply.”

“I’ve never heard something like that before.” Hongbin looks at Jaehwan like he’s just seen some strange creature. “You’re such a weirdo, hyung.”

“Weirdo or not, aren’t you happy for me?” Jaehwan excitedly grabs Hongbin’s arm, a bit too harshly, as it’s followed by a yelp of pain. “Taekwoon noticed me, he even knows my name! And he noticed when I wasn’t there!”

“Yeah, yeah. How wonderful. Amazing.”

“Come on, will it hurt to be a little more sincere?”

“I am happy for you, hyung. You’ve achieved so much more than I thought you ever would.” Hongbin wipes an imaginary tear of joy from the corner of his eye, then reverts back to the straight face in a split second. “I’m just tired hyung, you know. Imagine being in charge of two peoples’ shifts simultaneously for two days in a row!” Hongbin yawns and rubs at his eyes, trying to evoke sympathy from Jaehwan. It works.

“Poor Hongbin.” Jaehwan says and pats Hongbin’s head softly. “Since you covered for me, I guess it’s only fair I help you out now.”

“Such an understanding hyung,” Hongbin sniffs and clasps Jaehwan’s hand in his own. “After you change into your work attire, could you just get me a cup of cappuccino on the way?”

═ ☕ ═

It’s only mid-afternoon, and god, Jaehwan’s already terribly exhausted. He takes a moment to stretch his limbs, twisting and turning here and there to stretch out those numbing muscles. Standing in the same position without rest for multiple hours straight isn’t as easy as it sounds. Seriously, kudos to Hongbin who endured such torture for two days. Jaehwan makes a mental note to write some sort of thank you card.

Exhaustion aside, it’s mid-afternoon. Jaehwan takes a look at the café’s cute wooden clock. 4 o’clock. Perfect. It’s like this time of the day possesses some sort of rejuvenating quality; the forced smile Jaehwan wears when serving customers doesn’t feel all that forced now; and his leg muscles, previously crying for help, are now subdued, a new strength having pumped into them.

And, _speak of the angel_.

Taekwoon, alone as usual, walks into the café. He looks, visibly delighted (in Taekwoon Terms, meaning, a small smile) at the sight of Jaehwan. Or maybe that’s all in Jaehwan’s head? But, as Taekwoon walks closer, it’s confirmed. He _is_ smiling. Jaehwan swoons.

“You’re back. Heard you’d fallen ill?”

“Yeah… I did,” Jaehwan fixes his hair sheepishly, “High fever, flu, the usual crap.”

“Sounds bad, I shan’t waste too much of your time. Could I have an iced latte and a—“

“A slice of plain cheesecake!” Jaehwan adds, perhaps a bit _too_ excitedly. “Oops.”

Taekwoon just looks amused, in a good way, which is great. “Yeah, that.”

Jaehwan picks the food items out and places them onto the tray. “Enjoy your meal, and—“

“Hope to see me again?”

The exaggerated look of shock on Jaehwan’s face is almost comical.

“Y-yeah.”

“I pay attention, too.” Taekwoon says, collecting the tray and the change. “Take care.”

Jaehwan might’ve just fainted there and then, but he manages a weak smile and watches as Taekwoon heads to the same table.

He can’t wait to tell Hongbin all about this.

═ ☕ ═

When Taekwoon walks into the café today, Jaehwan can sense that there’s something off about him. Exactly what, Jaehwan doesn’t know. But he’s definitely not his usual self.

“You okay?”

Jaehwan asks, when Taekwoon, slouching more than usual, almost _drags_ himself to the counter. Taekwoon doesn’t answer the question, but he looks tired, unusual dark shadows framing his eyes.

“I’ll order the most bitter coffee you offer, thank you.”

Jaehwan stops, “No iced latte, no plain cheesecake?”

“Nope.”

No way. There was _definitely_ something wrong. Biting his lip, yet not wanting to ask about it at the moment, Jaehwan makes a coffee with a zero sugar level, and passes it over to Taekwoon, who sighs and accepts it and walks over to The table. At least that didn’t change. Jaehwan watches, worried, when Taekwoon starts sipping up the coffee listlessly, no laptop or whatsoever in front of him.

“Hey hyung,” Hongbin fits himself behind the counter beside Jaehwan. “Dude, is something wrong with your Taekwoon today? He looks… _miserable_.”

“I don’t even know,” Jaehwan sighs, “I don’t even know what happened, but I feel heartbroken already, just looking at him.”

“And what about that signature order of his? Doesn’t look like he’s got cheesecake on his table.”

Jaehwan shakes his head sadly, “He only asked for the ‘most bitter coffee’ we offered.”

Hongbin’s eyes widen at the information. “Sounds pretty terrible, I must say.”

Jaehwan sighs again, burying his face in his hands, fingers pulling in frustration at his own hair, “What do I do? It hurts to see him all sad, Hongbin.”

“Why don’t you go over and talk to him?” Hongbin slings an arm around Jaehwan, leaning in closer, “Maybe this,” Hongbin gestures towards Taekwoon, “is the opportunity you’ve been waiting for. I can sense it.”

Jaehwan looks up, “Really?”

Hongbin nods.

“What about the customers?”

“I’ve got you covered,” Hongbin winks. “This is your chance.”

When Hongbin’s not being an asshole, he’s nice _. Really_ nice. Jaehwan could just start crying tears of joy right now; if not for the utter stress of what to say or how to go about comforting Taekwoon invading his poor confused brain. Hongbin’s sacrificed so much just to help Jaehwan, though, so it’d be horrible to disappoint him. Jaehwan breathes in, and out, heaves out a “Thanks,” before heading over; tentative little steps leading to The Table, where Taekwoon’s currently laying his head down, using his arms as a cushion.

When Jaehwan finally reaches The Table, he looks nervously behind him and makes eye contact with Hongbin behind the counter, who gives him a thumbs up and a fist pump, mouthing “ _All the best, go for it_.” Jaehwan takes a deep breath, and gently taps Taekwoon’s shoulder.

It’s going to be their first legitimate conversation. That is, if Taekwoon allows it to be.

Taekwoon doesn’t respond. Helpless, Jaehwan attempts to use a little more force, patting at his shoulder. “Hey hey, it’s Jaehwan.”

Surprisingly, Taekwoon responds at this, finally, slowly, lifting his head up from the table and looking up at Jaehwan.

“Yes?” Taekwoon slurs.

“Are you okay?” Jaehwan asks, making sure to look really worried because he _is_ , and Taekwoon needs to know that.

“I’m fine.” Taekwoon says, looking up at Jaehwan, who’s still looking terribly concerned; the faint wrinkles etched on his forehead coupled with the furrow in his brow, are very telling. It warms something inside of Taekwoon; something _sincere_ about this boy that makes Taekwoon feel slightly bad about not telling the exact truth.

Then, after a long pause, Taekwoon sighs admittedly. “Not really.”

“I see…” Jaehwan bites at his bottom lip and taps his foot on the carpeted floor, something he does unknowingly whenever he’s nervous, “May I sit here?”

Taekwoon looks incredulously at Jaehwan, as if no one’s ever done something like this before. And it’s true. Taekwoon isn’t used to people showing him any sort of care or concern, he’s always been kind of a loner. It’s not that he dislikes people; but over the years, due to his quiet nature, he’s somehow managed to distance himself from the people around him, creating a personal bubble around himself. Some sort of facade, maintained via the stoic, expressionless external outlook. It helps to keep people away, so it’s rare that anyone ever shows any sort of interest in him. Let alone _concern_ , a completely foreign idea.

Never faced with such a situation before, hence unsure of how to react, Taekwoon just nods.

“I…guess you could?”

“Great,” Jaehwan smiles and eagerly pulls out the chair, slipping into the seat beside a slightly bewildered Taekwoon.

“Mind sharing what happened?”

“Why do you care?”

It’s a genuine question, not one out of spite. Hopefully it doesn’t come off that way.

“I care a great deal about my customers, okay.”

Taekwoon looks around at all the other occupied tables, then at Jaehwan again. “Then why are you only talking to me?”

“Well, that…” Jaehwan laughs nervously, “I care _especially_ about you?”

Taekwoon’s eyes widen at the sudden confession. “But, _why_?”

Why would anyone?

“Just… _because_.”

Taekwoon stares at Jaehwan in silence, in wonderment, observes how there’s now a slight blush on Jaehwan’s cheeks, the latter averting his gaze, looking down at the table nervously. Taekwoon brings the cup of almost finished coffee closer, and takes a final gulp of the bitter, flavourful drink. Perfect complement to his current misery.

“So?” Jaehwan breaks the silence, the pink flush now fainter. “Maybe I could help with… whatever it is that you’re going through?”

“I don’t even know.” Taekwoon sighs, resigned.

“That’s why, you’ll never know until you try. Maybe I really could be of help.”

Taekwoon looks at Jaehwan. He’s got doe eyes that look way too puppy-like to be true, a really outstanding long nose which makes him look slightly foreign, and lips that look— really…plush, and pink and _, soft_. Taekwoon gulps a little. And; soft looking, puffy cheek pocket things framing his soft looking mouth. Jaehwan’s actually really cute, no lie. It’s astounding as to how and why such a boy would decide to show interest in Taekwoon; _Taekwoon_ , for goodness sake, of all people. Something flutters in his stomach, heart skipping a beat. This whole situation is just—

Absurd.

“Do you…really care?”

Pink, soft lips parting around an “Of course I do.”

“Then…” Taekwoon picks up the now nearly-empty cup, swirls the remnants of coffee around; observes as countless dark bits swim around in a perfect spiral. “Okay.”

Jaehwan sits up a little straighter, shifting his chair a little closer towards Taekwoon, who flinches, backs away a little at the sudden proximity. Jaehwan’s lips curl down just the slightest bit when he notices. Taekwoon sincerely doesn’t mean to offend anyone; but it’ll take time, for him to get used to this. _This_.

“So… about what happened,” Taekwoon sighs. “My parents, they’ve been nagging at me since forever, over how I ‘lack social contact’.” Taekwoon’s fists clench involuntarily, “Got into a really, really huge argument yesterday over the same issue; said they couldn’t stand it how I had absolutely no friends at all, said it was bad for my health— they just don’t understand.”

Jaehwan observes how Taekwoon looks down, raven hair falling over his eyes, bottom lip worried between his teeth.

“But why?”

“Why what?”

“Why… don’t you have friends?”

“Is it wrong not to? I’m just not a people-person. The feeling is probably mutual, anyways. People don’t seem to like me either, most are scared and are turned off the moment they see me.”

Jaehwan shakes his head vigorously. “But that’s not true!”

“Yes it is.”

“Well _I_ don’t,” Jaehwan starts, _“I like you.”_ Taekwoon’s eyes widen. Jaehwan freaks out.

“Not in the _I like you_ kind of way but like, you know? You get the sense of it?” Jaehwan splutters, and the blush is creeping up on his cheeks again. Taekwoon pretends not to see it. Jaehwan mentally curses at himself.

(I do like you in the _I like you_ kind of way)

“Well,” Taekwoon brushes the hair from his eyes. “You’re the only one, then.”

“That’s better than nothing! Now your parents can’t say you have absolutely no friends.”

“What?”

“What, am I not your friend now?”

“I…guess so?”

“Do you know what friends do?”

“I don’t—“

Jaehwan quickly whips his phone out and taps a few buttons, before passing it to Taekwoon, extremely disoriented at the sudden Forceful Friendship Formation. Not that he’s against it, but, there’s really no time to ponder and make a stand at all when the deal’s being closed in a split second. Taekwoon looks at the phone screen.

**[ Add contact. Name: Taekwoon. Number: ]**

Then he looks up to see a grinning Jaehwan. “In case you don’t know, friends save each other’s contacts.” Jaehwan concludes, gesturing for Taekwoon to enter his contact.

“Wow.” Taekwoon deadpans, hesitating. “Really?”

“Of course!” Jaehwan looks offended, “Unless you don’t think I’m worthy of being called your friend?” A look of mock hurt and horror all at once flashes across Jaehwan’s face.

This kid has a knack for getting things done his way. Somehow. Taekwoon’s not even someone who easily concedes, but; this is a weird, intriguing boy, and he’s _special_. He cares. So Taekwoon enters in his number, and passes it back to Jaehwan.

Jaehwan receives it with a giant smile and a chirp of thanks, gesturing for Taekwoon to hand his own phone over.

“What?”

“Your phone. Friendship is mutual, you need my number too.”

There’s a highly suspicious, triumphant smile on Jaehwan’s face as Taekwoon hands his phone over for Jaehwan to save _his_ contact; and that damn pretty pink flush still painting Jaehwan’s puffy cheeks is extremely, _extremely distracting_.

But Taekwoon chooses to ignore it, because. Because Jaehwan’s contact is going to be the first non-familial contact in his phone. Because he’s starting to feel all fuzzy and warm, he’s starting to feel weird feelings he’s never felt before and—

That’s definitely _not_ a good sign.

(Step two, complete)

═ ☕ ═

“I’m actually pretty amazed, hyung. I’m not even kidding or being sarcastic, don’t worry.”

“Of course I know you’re not being sarcastic, I am well aware of my own honourable achievement.”

Hongbin throws the cloth he’s been using to wipe the tables across the café, smack into Jaehwan’s chest, and the response is immediate: a loud yelp of disgust, followed by a string of all too familiar curses.

“Never forget your roots, airhead.”

“I was just kidding, Bin-ah, why you gotta be so mean?”

A very wounded looking Jaehwan throws the cloth back to Hongbin, who, smiling, continues to clean the tables before retiring for the day. Being a total neat-freak, he’s always super particular about the cleanliness of the tables, refuses to accept what Jaehwan deems ‘clean’ and hence, never fails to cleans them a second round. Typical.

“Anyways. What do I do? Should I message him now?”

Hongbin pauses. “You’ve already got his contact, do whatever you want. Just not stupid things.”

“Nothing I do is stupid,” Jaehwan laughs. “Okay, maybe occasionally.”

“More like all the fucking time.”

“Bleh. I should probably text him first, right? Doubt he’s going to initiate anything.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t know, it’s… it just doesn’t seem like _him_ to do something like that.”

“You sure?” Hongbin challenges.

“I think?”

“Here’s this,” Hongbin stops, and, with a smirk on his face, walks over to where Jaehwan’s sitting. “Let’s make a bet. I say within the span of the next two days, he’s going to text you first. If it doesn’t happen, then you win.”

“Sounds fair,” Jaehwan shrugs. “What are we betting over?”

“10 bucks?”

“Too much, man.”

“9 bucks.”

Jaehwan manages the hardest eyeroll he’s ever done. “Fine, 9 bucks it is.”

═ ☕ ═

Jaehwan’s phone buzzes on his bedside table, notification light blinking green.

Jaehwan grabs his phone, groans when he sees that it’s a new message. He hugs his pillow closer, burying his face into the softness. Isn’t it his off day today, though? Please not let it be the manager calling him back for some reason or another. Please, please, _please_ —

Jaehwan finally musters up the courage to read the message. When his eyes finally focus onto the phone screen, he almost dies from a heart attack.

It’s a message from Taekwoon.

It takes all of Jaehwan’s strength and willpower to not faint right there, as he opens the message.

**To: CutieJaehwanie          [9:29 AM]**

_Hey._

**To: Taekwoon     [9:31 AM]**

_oh, hi! good morning! :))_

**To: Taekwoon     [9:31 AM]**

_got something to say?_

**To: CutieJaehwanie          [9:33 AM]**

_Yeah, actually._

**To: Taekwoon     [9:33 AM]**

_what is it? ^^_

**To: CutieJaehwanie          [9:35 AM]**

_So… this might sound kinda weird and awkward.  Don’t judge_

**To: Taekwoon     [9:36 AM]**

_who am i to judge you? don’t even worry, just shoot :p_

**To: CutieJaehwanie          [9:39 AM]**

_To make things slightly less awkward, I’ll just give you a gist of what my parents said_

**To: CutieJaehwanie          [9:44 AM]**

_“We can’t stand it anymore, you really need to stop isolating yourself from others, and make friends. Here’s a pair of tickets to Universal Studios, for the upcoming weekend. Guy or girl, doesn’t even matter anymore, just seriously get to know someone already, we’re giving you a great opportunity. I’m sure no one’s going to turn down such an enticing offer.”_

**To: CutieJaehwanie          [9:44 AM]**

_Thanks to my amazing parents, I’m now stuck with these two express pass tickets. I’d feel bad for wasting their money._

**To: CutieJaehwanie          [9:45 AM]**

_Would you, uh, mind coming with me, just this once? Maybe my parents will finally stop bugging me on this issue_

**To: Taekwoon     [9:45 AM]**

_omg, wow. are your parents like super rich or just really really desperate?_

**To: CutieJaehwanie          [9:46 AM]**

_Don’t know, both? Let’s not go there, though. So how?_

**To: Taekwoon     [9:47 AM]**

_of course i’ll go with you! more than delighted to :D_

**To: Taekwoon     [9:47 AM]**

_omg don’t get me wrong, i’m not delighted because i can freeload, did it come off that way?_

**To: CutieJaehwanie          [9:48 AM]**

_It’s okay, anyway it’s understandable if you mean it that way_

**To: Taekwoon     [9:48 AM]**

_omg noo i really didn’t mean that_

**To: CutieJaehwanie          [9:49 AM]**

_If you say so. Anyway, let’s meet this Sunday at 9 AM outside the café?_

**To: Taekwoon     [9:50 AM]**

_suree :)_

The moment Jaehwan enters the message, he puts his phone back down onto the bed, and takes a deep breath, before pinching himself. It’s followed by a cry of pain, and as Jaehwan cautiously examines the slowly reddening mark on his arm, he gasps.

It’s real. This is all real life. Not a dream.

Jaehwan’s going on a date to an amusement park with his fucking _crush_. Just the two of them.

This is insane.

═ ☕ ═

The incessant beeping and buzzing of Jaehwan’s phone alarm wakes him up with a start.

It’s The Day.

Jaehwan jumps out of bed, quickly making the sheets, before rushing to the bathroom. Brushes his teeth with the new toothpaste he’d just bought the previous day, which promised the best-smelling-breath ever, with the added note, ‘use this before a date for the best impression’. Jaehwan’s _sold_. After brushing his teeth twice with the magical toothpaste and finishing off with a mouthwash, Jaehwan proceeds to bathe. Soaping himself twice, just to make sure.

Jaehwan steps out of his bathroom, with just a towel round his waist, and walks over to his tiny closet. Upon opening the doors, Jaehwan regrets not caring more about getting nicer outfits, as he’s greeted with a poor selection of like, four shirts and one pants and two shorts. He sighs, deciding on a plain white tee that hangs a little too loosely on his frame, and a pair of light coffee coloured brown shorts. It’s not too bad, Jaehwan thinks, looking into the mirror, turning and twisting here and there to convince himself. Once settled, he then sprays on his only cologne, which is still pretty full because Jaehwan rarely even touches it, set aside for _special_ occasions.

This can be considered one.

Now, to worry about the hair. Jaehwan takes a look at the gel. Styling it up would be too extreme, wouldn’t it? But then again, it’d be good to look presentable. But would it be too formal for a casual day out? Gosh, so many things to worry about that’s never crossed Jaehwan’s mind to this date. After a 10 minute long dilemma, Jaehwan decides to forgo the gel, haphazardly ruffling his hair with bare hands, trying to create a kind of stylishly messy look. If that’s even a thing. After examining himself in the mirror, Jaehwan decides it’s passable.

Before leaving, Jaehwan makes sure to grab his phone and wallet and, his most treasured item, a must-have-at-all-times; his strawberry flavoured lipbalm. Yes. Uncapping the tube and screwing the stick out, Jaehwan smears it over his lips once, then screws it back in and capping it; only to take it out again to apply it a second time. For…good measure.

**To: Taekwoon     [8:40 AM]**

_hi! leaving house now, see you later :D_

The emoticon is not even an exaggeration of sorts, it’s the exact expression plastered on Jaehwan’s face sends the message, and steps out of the apartment.

═ ☕ ═

Jaehwan is going to be, unsurprisingly, late. Stupid buses that never fail to arrive at the _perfect_ timings. Of all times, when Jaehwan’s making his way to the bus stop; close enough to see the bus coming, but apparently too far for Jaehwan to catch. It always ends embarrassingly; Jaehwan panting, running, calling out for the bus to stop, only to have it drive away before his very eyes. And then, if that isn’t bad enough, being the centre of attention at the bus stop, some biting their lips in attempt to hold in their laughter, others plain out snickering. But oh well, he’s used to it by now.

But Taekwoon. Oh God, hopefully he isn’t already there? He probably doesn’t care enough to reach early…or maybe he does?

Jaehwan’s phone buzzes in his pocket. It’s a message from Taekwoon.

Please say you’re going to be late, say you’re caught in a jam or something—

**To: CutieJaehwanie          [8:57 AM]**

_I’m here. You reaching?_

Jaehwan sighs as he reads the message. Things aren’t working out at all, fancy being late on a first date. Even if it’s not a date, well. Not a very good impression to leave.

**To: Taekwoon     [9:50 AM]**

_omg so sorry, due to technical issues i’ll probs be a litttleee late :((( sorry man._

But hey, looking on the bright side, Taekwoon’s early. Wow. A dreamy smile starts making its way onto Jaehwan’s face just at the thought of Taekwoon not taking their date as lightly as Jaehwan would’ve thought. Maybe he, too, had feelings—

Time to snap out of it, bus is here.

═ ☕ ═

Upon alighting at the bus stop, Jaehwan immediately takes off with lightning speed to the café. Since he’s already late, at least make an attempt to look like he’d tried? When Jaehwan reaches the front of the café, he expects to see just Taekwoon. Not an expensive looking car pulled up at the driveway, and certainly not Taekwoon dressed unlike his usual style; this time wearing a casual outfit, leaning up against the side of his car and scrolling through something on his phone.

“Hey?”

Taekwoon looks up from his phone and stands up straighter at Jaehwan’s voice, a small smile on his face as he notices Jaehwan; visibly exhausted, breathing heavily, hair ruffled by the wind from running, probably. There’s a blush on his cheeks too, maybe from the running? Maybe.

“Hey.” With one hand, Taekwoon grabs the frame of his really cool-looking shades and lifts them up, the accessory resting atop Taekwoon’s head. It’s a new, no-less-charming side to Taekwoon, that’s being revealed to Jaehwan; and it doesn’t do much except fuel his crush even more.

“Nice shades,” Jaehwan points to Taekwoon’s head, then smiles (shyly), and adds “I like this casual style on you.”

Jaehwan cusses internally. That doesn’t seem like anything friends would say to each other. Oh well, it’s too late to take anything back.

“Thanks.” Taekwoon smiles, and this smile is different from the rest, but in what sense, Jaehwan can’t put a finger to it. But it is _Different_. Is shy a word to describe it? Plausibly. Oh God. Before Jaehwan can think too much about the Smile, Taekwoon’s opening the front door and gesturing for a slightly dazed-looking Jaehwan to get in.

═ ☕ ═

“Seatbelt fastened?”

Well, Jaehwan was just about to get to that.

But then, An Idea comes to mind.

“Um, hold on.”

Jaehwan reaches to his side and starts having trouble with fastening the seatbelt.

“Having Trouble”.

“Um, Taekwoon? I think there’s something wrong with this”

Jaehwan tries to sound as desperate as possible as he visibly struggles with the seat belt; uselessly clacking the tongue and buckle together (they’re functioning perfectly fine, and Jaehwan’s perfectly aware of how to use them, but that’s something Taekwoon doesn’t need to know).

“Are you sure?”

“Y-yeah, I think, it’s not working.”

Taekwoon looks hesitantly at a flustered looking Jaehwan, cheeks blushed, “Um, you wanna try fastening it again?”

A huge sigh of disappointment catches in Jaehwan’s throat, who tries as best as possible to swallow it back down, and starts faux struggling again, until he hears the words he’s been fucking _waiting_ for since like, forever. Since the idea first popped up in Jaehwan’s very— extraordinary mind.

“Let me see.”

Taekwoon looks a little unsure as he leans over Jaehwan’s seat to inspect the seatbelt; _fuck_ , Jaehwan curses in his head, at how close Taekwoon is now; there’s just so much unintended skinship going on right now, god _yes_ , yes—

Click.

“It’s working perfectly fine?”

The momentary bliss is over, too quickly, when Taekwoon gets back up, an undecipherable expression on his face.

“Um, it wasn’t, just now.” Jaehwan starts, and upon catching the incredulous, suspicious look on Taekwoon’s face, “Really!”

Jaehwan thinks Taekwoon looks like he’s smiling, sort of, yet his lips are pulled into a straight line. The corners of his mouth are quivering, though; threatening to curl up into a smile, a laugh? But he looks away quickly, coughing, hands on the steering wheel. “If you say so.”

═ ☕ ═

To be honest, this is Jaehwan’s virgin experience at an amusement part. Sounds unbelievable, but Jaehwan’s parents aren’t too well off, he’d settled with just neighbourhood playgrounds in the past. So, this is definitely going to be exciting; the entrance to the park already filled with families and tourists from all countries, fighting for spots to take pictures as memoirs, rollercoasters of all sizes and colours and thrill-levels peeking out and looming above the highly decorated entrance. Definitely very attractive, it’s no wonder there’s such a crazy crowd at the moment.

It’s also probably Taekwoon’s first time, judging from the look on his face when Jaehwan sneaks a glimpse. There’s a look of wonderment on his face, which is rare because it’s not often you even see a semblance of an expression on Taekwoon’s face. Besides when with Jaehwan, but that’s another matter of its own.

“Wow,” Taekwoon half gasps, half says, “wow.”

“Wow indeed.” Jaehwan nods, all the while staring at the adorable look of awe on Taekwoon’s face.

“Um, shall we go in?” Jaehwan pipes up, nudging Taekwoon, after all short while of just staring at Taekwoon staring at the entrance to the park.

“Oh—“ Taekwoon snaps out of his daze, eyes widening, “Yeah, right.” He hastily grabs the tickets from his back pocket and looks back at Jaehwan. “Let’s go.”

═ ☕ ═

The first thing Jaehwan spots upon entering is a mini stall. Selling headbands.

Couple headbands, to be precise.

“Oh my god,” Jaehwan exclaims, a little too loudly for Taekwoon’s liking, as can be inferred from his turning away from Jaehwan, hands coming up quickly to hide his face. His attempt to pretend he’s not related whatsoever to Jaehwan fails quickly, though, when Jaehwan grabs at his arm excitedly.

“Aren’t those headbands adorable?” Jaehwan coos, half walking, half dragging Taekwoon over to the stall. Taekwoon almost regrets inviting Jaehwan with him.

It’s going to be a long, long day.

“Um, not my type.” Taekwoon says, standing in front of the stall (courtesy of Jaehwan dragging him over), glancing over the wide selection of animal headbands. “Not my type.”

“Aww, why not?” Jaehwan pouts, grabbing at a headband with cat ears, putting it on a confused, spluttering Taekwoon. “You look so cute!”

Before Taekwoon can disagree or rip it off, Jaehwan gets another headband with dog ears on it. “I’ll have these two, please.” Jaehwan says, as sweetly as possible, then looking back at Taekwoon innocently, whispers for his wallet.

This is going to be the first and the last time, Taekwoon groans, faced with both the sweet innocent look on Jaehwan and the questioning look on the stall owner; reluctantly fishing his wallet out from his back pocket, sighs as he takes out a few notes and pays for the headbands he did not consent to purchasing.

“Don’t take it off,” Jaehwan says, grabbing at Taekwoon’s hand before he even gets to touch it.

Taekwoon sighs, looks at the fluffy dog ears on Jaehwan’s head, then looks at his face, his puppy like eyes, the pout on his pink mouth. The ears… they suit him.

“Do friends do this?”

 _Couple headbands_ , Taekwoon remembers what he’d seen on the sign.

“Of course they do!” Jaehwan chirps.

Okay, then. He’ll close one eye.

═ ☕ ═

“Have you ever been on a rollercoaster?”

“Nope.”

Then let’s go!” Jaehwan grabs at Taekwoon’s arm for the nth time today, heading towards the queue for the most colourful, most threatening looking rollercoaster in the park. Just the look of it makes one go dizzy, the drops and 360-degrees seem almost unending.

“You sure about this?”

Taekwoon looks uncertainly at the map. There’s a maximum rating of 5 menacing looking skulls for the thrill level, and it promises to be the “scariest rollercoaster you’ll ever be on, a must-try.”

Taekwoon points Jaehwan to the description of the map, then looks at him.

“You sure you’re up for it? Sounds pretty scary.”

Jaehwan gives him a look of mock hurt, “Are you saying I’m a weakling? Even though I’ve never been on one, I’m 100% sure I’ll love it! I’ve been a thrill-loving and adventurous kid since young,” Jaehwan clenches his fist, stands up straighter, and hits his chest twice. No offence, but Taekwoon isn’t very convinced.

“Okay then, let’s go. Thank goodness my parents gave me the express pass ticket, look at that queue.”

When it’s their turn to get onto the cart, Taekwoon heads for the front seat.

“Y-you sure?” Jaehwan says. He doesn’t look all that confident now.

“I thought you were the one who was super excited for this?” Taekwoon teases, but after looking at how Jaehwan’s trembling a little, “Fine, let’s sit somewhere in the middle, then.”

The rollercoaster wasn’t even all that bad, Taekwoon thinks. The experience was slightly ruined by Jaehwan’s high pitched screaming throughout, though; it wouldn’t surprise Taekwoon if Jaehwan one day admitted he was secretly a dolphin or something.

(But it’s okay, he’ll let that go. Because Jaehwan’s soft hand gripping at his own, for dear life, had compensated for that.)

“You okay?”

Taekwoon spots Jaehwan lagging behind, and walks back, filled with concern; though he’ll not admit it. Jaehwan’s face is extremely pale, frame trembling. He’s got both hands clutching at his stomach, expression pained.

“N-n-no.”

Jaehwan takes a step forward, but he’s swaying off balance, swaying too far, he’s falling—

He doesn’t, because Taekwoon’s there, catches him first. There’s a firm hand gripping at the curve of his waist, another grabbing at his shoulder, steadying him. Time stops for a moment, Jaehwan’s heart fluttering and stomach twisting like never before; face buried in Taekwoon’s broad chest, the faint smell of softener, cologne clouding his senses; the pulse of Taekwoon’s heart beating against his ear, faster, _faster_.

Faster.

Taekwoon feels sparks coursing through his body at the touch, he wants to let go, so badly; he’s never done this before, he’s not one to do this, but he couldn’t have let Jaehwan fall, could he? Yet he wants to _hold on_ at the same time, never wants to let go, because this feeling is everything— the feeling of Jaehwan, soft, and safe in his arms; and maybe it’s the caffeine from the latte he’d had this morning that’s making his heart beat so erratically, he can _feel_ it. He wishes with all his life that Jaehwan can’t.

“Shit, I-I’m sorry,’ Jaehwan stutters, pushing himself up. His legs still feel like jelly, though now it’s probably 90% Taekwoon and 10% rollercoaster; so he slumps back into Taekwoon’s hold, embarrassingly.

“It’s f-fine. You better take a rest.” Taekwoon says, hands still holding Jaehwan, and guides him to the nearest bench.

After making sure Jaehwan’s seated, Taekwoon gets up.

“Wait here.”

“Where are you going?” Jaehwan says, a little more colour to his cheeks now. He still looks weak, though.

Taekwoon pauses, shoving his hands into his pockets. “Just… wait.”

When Taekwoon returns, he’s not empty handed. In fact, he’s got two cones of ice-cream. One chocolate, one vanilla. He passes the chocolate one over to Jaehwan, who happily accepts it.

“Wow, thanks! How did you know I liked chocolate ice-cream?”

Taekwoon sits down, licks at his vanilla one. “Because I’ve seen you sneak chocolate ice-cream between breaks—”

Taekwoon pauses, and Jaehwan catches the way his eyes widen slightly, like he’s caught himself off guard.

“Uhh, never mind. Forget you heard that.”

How’s it possible for Jaehwan to unhear that confession? His heart leaps in joy at the thought of this whole situation not being so one-sided after all. Maybe Taekwoon too, had feelings—

“Anyway.” Taekwoon clears his throat. “What happened to the supposed thrill-loving kid?”

“Ah, that…” Jaehwan rubs at his neck, embarrassed. “It was…more thrilling than I expected. I still love thrill!”

“You could’ve come up with a better excuse,” Taekwoon rolls his eyes.

When he looks over, Jaehwan’s giving him the hurtful pout. Taekwoon notices the smear of brown cream at the side of his pursed mouth. He swallows, hand itching to thumb the stain away. No, Taekwoon, no.

“Um, you…you’ve got ice cream at the side of your mouth.”

“Oh.” Jaehwan stops his pouting, slightly embarrassed. “Where?”

Jaehwan uses his finger to wipe the left corner of his mouth. Taekwoon’s hand itches again.

“Wrong side.”

“Ah, okay.” Jaehwan wipes at the right side, now, but not successfully. He only smears it more, the ice-cream now staining a bigger portion of his puffy, pink cheek. It wouldn’t be too bad to leave it there, Taekwoon thinks, it looks pretty cute.

“No, no, you just made it worse. “ Taekwoon sighs, fishing out his napkin.

“Then? Are you going to help me?” Jaehwan asks, pouting again. He doesn’t really expect Taekwoon to, knowing the latter.

Well, he apparently doesn’t know him well enough.

Jaehwan almost gasps as Taekwoon leans over, carefully wiping the side of his mouth, his cheek, with a napkin. Slowly, slowly, eyes focused, meticulously—

The feeling of Jaehwan’s soft cheek under his touch, the widening of those doe eyes. Taekwoon’s going to document this moment for life.

═ ☕ ═

“It’s pretty late, ” Taekwoon looks at his watch, after finishing up the pasta they’d ordered for dinner. “Should we head back now?”

“Wait,” Jaehwan grabs at the itinerary of events, and points at something. “There’s a fireworks event at 8, just 15 minutes more. Let’s just stay and watch that?”

Taekwoon’s not interested. But, okay.

“Okay, we’ll stay to watch it.”

The way Jaehwan’s face lights up is enough to convince Taekwoon he’s made the right choice. It’s scaring him, a little.

The fireworks event commences. Taekwoon looks up at the night sky, watching the burst of colours illuminating the dark canvas of a sky, some patterned, some not. They’re pretty. Taekwoon’s a little distracted by the sounds of awe Jaehwan’s making beside him, hand squeezing occasionally at his arm. It feels nice.

This is absurd.

Slowly, he feels his gaze gravitating towards Jaehwan, instead. His heart starts pounding erratically again, and it’s really scaring him. He watches the way Jaehwan’s soft looking lips part around each gasp, the way the corners of his lips are curled up in excitement and wonderment. The fireworks and pretty, and well, Jaehwan’s pretty, too.

_Jaehwan’s prettier._

Taekwoon ends up watching the show through Jaehwan’s bright, shining eyes, the reflection of colour bursts on those dark irises perfecting them. He’s falling, more than he’d intended to.

Too far, too deep.

═ ☕ ═

“Weren’t the fireworks so pretty?” Jaehwan says, tugging at Taekwoon’s arm as they get into his car.

Taekwoon shuts the door. He doesn’t really remember, he’d gotten _distracted_ halfway.

“Yeah, they were,” Taekwoon smiles, starting up the car. “I can drop you off at your house.”

“Oh, it’d be too troublesome. Just drop me off at the same bus stop outside the café, I can take a bus home.”

“No, I can drop you off at your house. Just tell me your address.”

Jaehwan’s eyes widen. There’s a firm note to Taekwoon’s voice.

“O-okay then, if you don’t mind.”

═ ☕ ═

They’ve reached the front of Jaehwan’s apartment. Jaehwan’s dozed off, halfway during the ride.

Taekwoon looks to his side. Jaehwan’s head is lolled towards one side, lashes fanned out against the pale skin of his cheeks, pink mouth parted and a bit of drool at the side of his mouth. Taekwoon smiles. He’s never felt such genuine happiness before. It’s absurd, how the first thing Taekwoon thinks of isn’t to wake Jaehwan up, but to _observe_ him. This boy is doing strange things to him, and Taekwoon’s perfectly fine with it.

He’s fallen.

Taekwoon takes out a napkin, again, mimicking the action he’d done earlier that day, breath caught in his throat. After making sure there’s no stain, Taekwoon hesitantly brings a hand up to Jaehwan’s face. He wants to touch, so, _so badly_ , feel that soft, warm skin under his own bare palm—

Jaehwan stirs, and Taekwoon hastily retreats, coughing a little. Jaehwan yawns and makes a cute high pitched sound as he does so; stretching his arms out, doe eyes a little unfocused.

“Oh, sorry!” Jaehwan gasps, after realising that he’d fallen asleep and recognising that they’d reached home. “I fell asleep.”

“Yeah, I know.” Taekwoon says, amused.

“I better not waste any more of your time!” Jaehwan gets up and out of the car. Taekwoon follows after.

“Wait—“ Taekwoon interrupts. “Um, this might sound weird but can I take a picture with you? I kind of need to—”

“Ah, your parents?” Jaehwan smiles, and Taekwoon nods. “Of course! Plus, it’s ‘ _selfie_ ’. Who says ‘picture’ anymore?” Jaehwan laughs, the corners of his eyes crinkling up.

In all honesty, Taekwoon doesn’t know what that means. But, he’ll go with the flow. “Y-yeah, I mean a selfie.” Taekwoon whips out his phone, passes it to Jaehwan.

“Can you take it?”

Because he doesn’t know how to.

“Sure.” Jaehwan takes the phone and taps on a few buttons, before facing the screen towards them. Wow, Taekwoon never knew his phone could do that. Now he knows.

“1…2…3…” _Click_.

Jaehwan looks at the picture and smiles, before handing the phone back, squeezing Taekwoon’s hand. The latter looks at Jaehwan, confused.

“Thanks….for everything.” Jaehwan says, eyes shining; clasping Taekwoon’s hands in his own warm, smaller ones. He smiles, plush lips curling up, and it’s _genuine_.

There’s that warm, fuzzy feeling flooding Taekwoon’s insides again, it’s _overwhelming_ ; to the point of the inability to form or say any words. So Taekwoon just smiles, and waves goodbye.

**To: CutieJaehwanie          [10:39 PM]**

_< image>_

**To: CutieJaehwanie          [10:40 PM]**

_Thanks for everything, too._

═ ☕ ═

Taekwoon walks up to the counter with a smile.

“I’ll guess.” Jaehwan starts, “You’ll like an iced latte and a slice of plain cheesecake!”

“Nope,” Taekwoon says, and smiles at the crestfallen look on Jaehwan’s face.

“I’m… wrong?”

“I’d like _two_ iced lattes and _two_ slices of plain cheesecake, please.”

Dozens of thoughts race through Jaehwan’s mind as he performs the unusual routine; it feels like his whole world is crashing down and everything is ruined; his first hunch was right, Taekwoon did have a girlfriend and he was just living in his own fantasy all this while, Hongbin’s going to—

Taekwoon’s soft voice interrupts his thoughts.

“When your shift is over, why don’t you join me?”

Jaehwan gapes at Taekwoon, unable to form any sane thoughts or words; watches dumbly as Taekwoon laughs softly, and walks over to The Table.

Holy shit.

═ ☕ ═

“I’m sosososo happy for you hyung, what the hell.”

“I know, oh my gosh,” Jaehwan says, squeezing at Hongbin’s arm. “Should I, should I confess, once and for all?”

“Yes.” Hongbin starts, “I think you should. You know why?”

“What?”

“I can sense it strongly.” Hongbin smiles, so wide. “The feeling’s mutual.”

“Shit Hongbin, you’re raising my hopes up so high, I’m going to cry for days if this doesn’t turn out well.”

“You won’t. I can almost guarantee it.”

Jaehwan tugs at Hongbin’s arm, jerking and swinging it around wildly. “Really, really?”

“Yes, and if you’d stop being so fucking annoying, I’d be glad to take over your shift now.”

Jaehwan lets go of Hongbin’s poor arm immediately, standing up straight.

“Thanks Hongbin, I owe you my life!” Jaehwan chirps, untying his apron and taking the badge off.

“Yes, yes you do.”

═ ☕ ═

“Hi.”

Jaehwan smiles, shyly, as he slides into the seat opposite Taekwoon.

Taekwoon looks up at him expectantly, and gestures to the cake and latte. “Figured you’d be hungry after a long shift.”

“You’re too nice.” Jaehwan says, pretend sniffing. “I could just tear up right now.”

“Well, don’t.” Taekwoon laughs, Jaehwan’s antics never fail to amuse him.

“So…you must have a reason for,” Jaehwan gestures toward the table, to Taekwoon, to himself, “ _this_?”

“Not really.” Taekwoon stirs his latte gently. “Just because.”

Jaehwan’s heart falls a little.

“Oh…um, did your parents say anything?”

Taekwoon smiles. “They seemed happy for me, and I don’t know when the last time that happened, so it’s good.” Taekwoon pokes his fork through a piece of cut cheesecake. “They also said you were… cute.”

“Really?” Jaehwan’s eyes brighten up again, and it reminds Taekwoon of shining stars. “Well, it can’t be helped,” Jaehwan laughs, “Everyone around me agrees I’m cute.”

Taekwoon looks at him with another of his undecipherable, slightly amused expressions.

“Don’t you, too?”

Jaehwan points his fork at Taekwoon, mouth full of cheesecake, puffy cheek pockets bulging at the sides.

“I… guess you could say so.”

Jaehwan pouts, swallowing the cheesecake. “You could afford to sound more convincing!”

Jaehwan’s got bits of cheesecake at the side of his mouth.

“Okay.” Taekwoon grabs a napkin, smiling, leaning over to wipe the mess around Jaehwan’s pink mouth. “You’re cute.”

There’s a period of silence as Taekwoon watches Jaehwan try to absorb whatever had just happened, puppy-like eyes wide open, and Taekwoon notices another little detail about Jaehwan; that is, his elf-like ears, and how they perk up just like a puppy’s whenever he’s excited, or confused, who knows what. It’s really cute. So is the reddening flush on his cheeks.

“How was your day?”

Jaehwan snaps out of his daze, swallowing nervously, heart beating fast. “It was okay. Can’t compare to yesterday, though.” Jaehwan smiles shyly, sipping at the latte. “How about yours?”

“Same,” Taekwoon slips the last piece of cheesecake into his mouth. “Couldn’t really focus in class, kept thinking back to yesterday.”

(It’d be nice to do that again.)

Was that a… hint? Jaehwan shakes his leg nervously, out of habit, Hongbin’s voice weirdly ringing in his head over and over, _“Now is the time, now is the time, now—“_

“C-can I say something?” Jaehwan sits up straighter in his seat, biting his lip. Swirls his half-full cup of latte around.

“Sure?” Taekwoon sits up as well. Like he’s expecting something. Jaehwan swallows nervously.

“I think I… _I like you_.”

There. it’s done. The burden has been lifted off his shoulders. Jaehwan squeezes his eyes shut, holds his breath.

Waiting.

“Can I say something too?”

Jaehwan opens his eyes, and all he sees is the pretty pink in Taekwoon’s cheeks, the way the corners of those cherry red lips are doing The Thing again, curling up subtly. Jaehwan’s stomach flips, breath catching in his throat, is he—

“I think I like you too.”

(Final stage, complete)

═ ☕ ═

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> comments are greatly appreciated ♥


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